


Shovel Talk

by iLurked



Series: Simmons Family Values [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU, Crack, Established WxS, F/M, Hydra? What Hydra? AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-26 17:17:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1696169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iLurked/pseuds/iLurked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a moment of clarity, Ward realized that Jemma's mother was the Councilman’s wife. That would make Jemma Simmons the daughter of the newly-appointed member of the World Security Council.</p><p>He should have known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shovel Talk

**Author's Note:**

> For #wssummer week 1 prompt: Fallout

Phil Coulson felt like a little boy on his first day of school.

He was a big mass of mixed feelings.

On one hand, Fury was still alive and had recently appointed Coulson as the new director of SHIELD.

On the other hand, SHIELD was in shambles and rebuilding the agency would take major work. (And maybe that was one of the reasons Agent Hill turned down the position.)

To make matters more interesting, the newly-appointed Councilman Smith of the World Security Council requested a meeting. A personal meeting in the safe house they were using as temporary home base and not a meeting via video-conferencing, as was the norm.

Consequently, Billy Koenig and all the available agents were all running around the base like headless chickens in an attempt to spruce the place up.

Not that they could do much. Not only were they on a very tight budget, Councilman Smith would arrive in …

Ten minutes ago.

“Agent?” Coulson grabbed an agent passing by. “Any word on Councilman Smith?”

“He arrived ten minutes ago, sir.” The agent replied.

“What?” Coulson all but screeched. “Why wasn’t I informed of this development?”

“Sir?” Ward walked up to the two men, saving the newbie agent from receiving the rage of the normally mild-mannered newly-minted SHIELD Director. “This Councilman Smith, is he a distinguished-looking white Caucasian male in his mid to late fifties, with blue eyes and dark blond hair close-cropped hair streaked with silver, about your height but built like a streamlined tank.”

“Yes, although I object to the ‘about your height but built like a streamlined tank’ comment.” Coulson sniffed. “But yes, he does look like that. Why? Have you seen him?”

Skye, who had trailed after her S.O. fresh from a workout, nodded towards the stairs where three pairs of feet were descending. “FitzSimmons got to him first.”

Soon, a gentleman was revealed, walking with the assistance of a wooden cane, while two younger people trailed after him. The gentleman was giving the impression of an alpha dog looking on with amusement at two delightful pups. 

“They won’t let us have a fish tank in the bus,” Simmons was saying. “But if we’re grounded here on a more or less permanent basis, maybe we could request for one now?”

“And I would also like to make it of record,” Fitz added. “That my requisition for a lab monkey had not yet been acted upon. It’s been six months!”

“Oh, no.” Coulson blanched as he moved as fast as he could towards the councilman and the two scientists. “Ward, Skye, distract FitzSimmons. Leave the councilman to me.”

“Oh, god no.” Ward muttered when they drew near to their targets. He had froze mid step when the councilman’s close-in security came into view.

“Ward?” Skye frowned when she noticed that he was no longer keeping up with them.

“Maybe I should have turned Hydra when I got the chance.” He muttered.

“Dude,” Skye rolled her eyes. “Don’t even joke about something like that.”

“Is anything the matter?” Coulson turned back to them, his frown clearly conveying that this was not the time or place for whatever it was they were doing.

“You can be at ease, sir,” Ward told him dejectedly. “I don’t think Councilman Smith came for you.”

“What do you mean?” Skye demanded.

From behind Councilman Smith, James and Jason Simmons smirked at Ward.

Just when Ward thought that it could not be worse, Melinda May walked in at that moment. Right beside her, a very beautiful Jane Simmons a.k.a. Jane Smith met his eyes and blew him a kiss before sidling towards Councilman Smith’s side. In an unconscious gesture that belied their old familiarity with each other, Councilman Smith placed his hand on the small of Jane Smith’s back.

In a moment of clarity, he realized that she was the Councilman’s wife. 

That would make Jemma Simmons the daughter of the newly-appointed member of the World Security Council.

Ward wondered why he was even surprised.

…

So far, so good.

At least, that’s what Ward told himself.

Compared to the torture that was the Simmons brothers and the mortification that was Jane Simmons, talking with the Simmons patriarch was a piece of cake.

(“Don’t say that!” He could almost hear Skye scream in his head.

“You’ll jinx everything!” His internal Fitz replied.

Not that he believed in jinxes and curses.

But maybe he should start.)

Of course, with Simmons by his side (Jemma Simmons, that is. Not John Simmons a.k.a. Councilman Smith. Maybe he should start calling her by her first name. After all, he had met all her family. Insisting on calling her by her last name would get a tad confusing), he couldn’t help but feel invincible.

Ward felt ridiculously proud when Simmons (Jemma, he reminded himself; it’s Jemma from now onward) beamed at him after he made her father chuckle. Her head swivelled from one man to another, as if she could not believe that the two most important men in her life were carrying on like old friends.

Never mind that Ward now owed his team a huge favour after Coulson and May showed Jane Smith around the safe house; while Skye and Fitz distracted the Simmons brothers with their latest inventions. The important thing was that he was having tea with Councilman Smith and Jemma.

“Poppet,” Councilman Smith cleared his throat. “I love this blend of tea. I wonder if you could tell me where I can purchase my own?”

“Oh, I met someone in Thailand who blends tea depending on what one needs.” Simmons smiled up at her dad. “But I think I have an extra box. I’ll get it for you.”

Ward watched adoringly as Jemma got up and made her way to the kitchen.

His heart constricted at the mutual love and respected emanating from father and daughter. It was obvious that the two were crazy about each other. He couldn’t help but remember how bereft, how cold his own formative years were, as he had lost his parents at a very young age.

He looked forward to the time (in a future far, far away) that he would have a daughter, too. He hoped that he could love his daughter as much as-

“Sonofabitch!”

A long stream of curses followed the sudden onset of pain at his chest. He had been shot! He whirled around at the source of the threat.

He gaped when he saw Councilman Smith, the very same man he was having tea with, holding his walking stick as he would a firearm. The stick’s wooden end had retracted, revealing a barrel similar to a gun’s.

“Did you shoot me?” Ward demanded as he inspected his chest. He was not bleeding, but there was definite hole in his shirt and, upon closer inspection, a small lesion on his left pecs. “Are you insane?”

“As of this moment, hundreds of nanobots are making their way into your bloodstream.” Councilman Smith said calmly as he pushed a hidden button on the walking stick, hiding its deadly end. “A single nanobot could survive in your body for hundreds of years, just awaiting a single command from its creator, that is, me.”

Ward was beginning to doubt the wisdom of dating Jemma Simmons. Her family was crazy. And wasn’t there a saying about insanity running in the family?

“Son,” Councilman Smith leaned over and brought his head close to Ward’s. “Understand this: if you hurt my daughter, if you ever break her heart, if you even think about breaking up with her, me and my nanobots would kill you: slowly, painfully, and in the most humiliating way possible.”

Ward swallowed, feeling all his hair stand on end. He was mistaken. Councilman Smith was the most dangerous of them all, because he became unhinged at even at the thought of his daughter being hurt.

“Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.” Ward replied.

"And if you ever allow an incriminating photo of her to be uploaded on the internet again, the nanobot would hold you still while I vivisect you, do you understand me?"

"Uh, what incriminating photo, sir?"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"Yes, sir!" Ward replied, because because what else could he respond to that?

“Good.” Councilman Smith sat back up on his chair and adjusted his cuffs, looking as if nothing happened.

“Here you are, daddy!” Jemma swept in the room, ignorant of the undercurrents between the two men.

“Thank you, princess.” Councilman Smith told her as he accepted the box of tea. “I must say, I like this Agent Grant Ward of yours. He picks up on things mighty quick.”

Jemma all but squealed in joy as she threaded her fingers with Ward’s.

Yep, insane.

But as he looked at Jemma Simmons, as he felt her warmth and joy and love, he couldn’t help but affirm his earlier realisation that she was worth it

…

“What?” Fitz demanded, frowning as he watched Simmons hug her brothers goodbye. Meanwhile, Ward shook the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Simmons. “That’s it?”

Skye, too, was massively disappointed. “No death threats? No warning of certain doom if he hurts Simmons?”

“Some guys have all the luck,” Fitz sighed. He was looking forward to Ward being threatened, too.

If only they knew.

**Author's Note:**

> (And because I feel like an idiot, I want to explain the prompt fill:) Ward deals with the fallout of Skye inadvertently posting a selfie with Simmons kissing Ward at the background.


End file.
